Health officials have been very lax in investigating clinics in the state of Texas- so much so that in 2003, 145 women who had been injured in clinics in the state of Texas filed suit against the State, demanding that it make abortion safer.
In April 2003, District Court Judge John Coselli, Jr. heard testimony from four women alleging a variety of physical and emotional injuries, including a ruptured uterus, a ruptured colon and sterility, as well as guilt and depression, from abortion procedures at private clinics regulated by the state.
He ordered mediation to resolve the class-action lawsuit. During mediation, the parties will attempt to reach an agreement before an unbiased third party designated by the court — usually a former district court judge.
Allen Parker, Chief Executive Officer of the Texas Legal Foundation, which is representing the plaintiffs, said that “We’re alleging that they do not adequately give women enough information about the nature and consequences of abortion for them to make fully informed and voluntary decisions.”
The suit also alleges that the state failed to adequately investigate unlicensed abortion clinics; failed to adequately inspect and examine licensed clinics; failed to cooperate with other state agencies attempting to prosecute illegal activity in abortion clinics; failed to prevent the unauthorized practice of medicine by unlicensed individuals in abortion clinics; and failed to require abortion clinics to report child abuse that resulted in pregnancy.
Pro-Choice groups ignored the injured women as if they did not exist. Peter Durkin, CEO of Texas Planned Parenthood, called the case “disingenuous,” saying the Texas Department of Health “does a good job with available resources of inspecting on a regular scheduled basis, as well as unannounced inspections of abortion providers of Texas. I think if you look at the motives of these suits, they are intended to increase the barriers to women accessing this service, and their other goal is to increase the cost.”
Attorneys for the State of Texas asserted that individuals cannot sue a state to make the state enforce its own laws and regulations. In attempting to refute that argument, Parker pointed to a 1989 Texas case in which farmers successfully sued the state Department of Health for failing to enforce regulations designed to protect farm workers. Parker said “Instead of protecting women, the state wants to protect itself by having this lawsuit dismissed. The state’s attitude has been ‘We don’t care’ or ‘It’s not my job.’ … If a person was speeding in your neighborhood every day, going 90 miles per hour in front of your house, and you called the police and they didn’t do anything, eventually, a judge would order them to enforce the law. We’re also asking that the state inform women of the emotional and physical consequences of abortion. It is the taking of the life of a human organism under Texas law, and it has long-term emotional consequences.”
Parker added that the suit seeks enforcement of the Texas parental notification statute. Two of the plaintiffs, a minor and her mother, say the state never informed the parents that the girl, who was 16 years old at the time, was getting an abortion.
According to Parker, the minor said she would never have gone through with the abortion had her parents been notified and is suffering “severe emotional trauma as a result.”
“I was very upset about what happened to my daughter,” said the mother, who wished only to be identified by her initials, L.S. “I found out afterwards, and I was very angry that I wasn’t notified.”
L.S. said the state stonewalled her when she sought specific information on its abortion laws and regulations, particularly parental notification. A private guidance counselor referred her to the Texas Legal Foundation.
Her daughter made the decision to have an abortion based on information given to her at the abortion clinic, L.S. said. “They told her that the child could be born with some kind of disorder or retardation and that she would have to take care of it for the rest of her life. She was frightened about what they told her could happen.” L.S. said her daughter was “very distraught,” complaining that she had “rushed” into the decision and that the clinic had failed to inform her of alternatives to abortion such as child placement or adoption. Her daughter became more withdrawn, L.S. said, until the girl had to be hospitalized for emotional distress. The mother said that “She was crying all the time. I’m very upset that it happened at all. I wish I would have been notified, and I wish they would have given her different options when she went in to get her pregnancy test.”
Several of the women were injured by abortions performed in abortion clinics by non-licensed personnel, including non-doctors.
References: “Texas Women’s Botched Abortion Lawsuit Begins Friday.” Steven Ertelt’s Pro-Life Infonet at http://www.prolifeinfo.org, April 11, 2003; “Class Action Lawsuit Launched Against Texas for not Enforcing Abortuary Regulations.” LifeSite Daily News at http://www.lifesite.net, April 11, 2003; Steve Brown. “Texas Abortion Lawsuit Headed for Mediation.” CNSNews.com, April 14, 2003; “Texas Lawsuit Over Abortion Damage Goes to Mediation.” Steve Ertelt’s Pro-Life Infonet, April 14, 2003; “Judge Orders Mediation in Texas Abortion Suit.” LifeSite Daily News, April 14, 2003.
Credit abortionviolence.com
Share on Facebook